Today we're going to get an update on one of the most resilient fish in North America, the wild steelhead.

From the cold rivers of the Skagit to the volcanic headwaters of southern Oregon, our guest has spent two decades following their journey,

snorkeling over reds, collecting fry dispersal data, and pie pie dispersal data, and piecing together what makes these fish tick.

By the end of this episode, you'll get a look at some of the groundbreaking work on the Skagit

River, the surprising connection between steelhead and Atlantic salmon, and what it takes to

keep these wild runs alive from Washington to Comchaca.

This is the wetfly swing podcast where I show you the best places to travel to for fly fishing,

how to find the best resources and tools to prepare for that big trip,

and what you can do to give back to the fish species we all love.

Nick Chambers from the conservation anglers joins us today to share what he's learned about

the early life history of Steelhead.

We're going to find out why some rivers thrive while others fade and why a handful of fish in the right places

can shape the future of the entire watershed. This is a good one today. Nick has got some

good data to bring and we're going to dig into it. So here we go. You can find Nick Chambers.

You can go ahead right now to the conservation angler.org. How's it going, Nick? It's going well. It's great to be here, too. Yeah. Yeah. Thanks for putting some time aside today to talk about what you guys do at the conservation angler. I think we're going to get an update on, you know, I think Steelhead definitely is a focus for us along with other species. So I just want to get a background on what you guys have going.

You know, we've had John on a couple of times and he's done a great job, but just giving us a, you know, a rundown overview of what you guys do. But I want to jump back into that today. And does that sound pretty good to you? Yeah, that sounds great.

You've got to be happy to do that.

Okay.

Well, let's start it off just from the top on, you know, just on you.

How did you, you know,, that sounds great. You've got to be happy to do that. Okay. Well, let's start it off just from the top on, you know, just on you. How did you, you know, give us your background? How did you come into working at the conservation angler? And maybe also if you can't give us a little background on the organization and how it came to be. Yeah. So, you know, I grew up in Southwest Oregon and was pretty much obsessed with fish from a young age.

And so, you know, grew up steelhead fishing wasn't very good at it necessarily, but totally loved it.

Grew up on the rogue. So, you know, steelhead and Chinook or that those are the fish you have in your backyard, essentially.

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